MAPUTO - Gunmen attacked a bus and a truck in central Mozambique on Saturday near the opposition stronghold of Muxungue, killing three people and raising fears of sustained political violence ahead of elections next year, local media said.

The bus traveling from the capital, Maputo, to the second city of Beira was ambushed from the front and side, the first such attack on a civilian vehicle in the war-scarred southern African nation in a decade, the O Pais newspaper said.

The attack came two days after militiamen loyal to the opposition Renamo party attacked a police station in Muxungue, killing four policemen in a bid to free more than a dozen colleagues arrested the previous day in a police raid on their party headquarters.